Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks to the Minister for that response. Several of the Indigenous governments have actually asked that the project be stopped or delayed given the condition of the Bathurst caribou herd, but our government is prepared to support it. This project is going to involve use of winter roads on our side of the boundary, and as the Minister said there are going to be transboundary, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts. I would like the Minister to explain why our government did not call for a full federal panel review under Part 6 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement for the Grays Bay Port and...

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Lands in his capacity for coordinating GNWT input into environmental assessments such as the Grays Bay Port and Road Project in Nunavut. What is the GNWT understanding of the status of the Bathurst caribou herd, and how does that influence our input into environmental assessments? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. It is time for another statement on "What I Did for My Summer Holidays," or "Yellowknife Rocks."

Committee work began almost immediately after the last sitting ended on June 2nd. I also travelled to Inuvik for the Alternative Energy and Emerging Technologies conference, June 14th to the 16th, and I attended the Dehcho and Tlicho assemblies. The never-ending work on the Rules and Procedures Committee on our review of several reports of election matters continued over the summer.

In August, my wife and I travelled to the Yukon and Alaska, where tourism is really...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for that. We're not asking for federal intervention. Part 6 is about being sure it's a full federal panel. They're appointed by the federal government and it could have included representation from this side of the border, but we cut off our nose to spite our face.

Clearly, the routing for the Slave Geological Province road was chosen by our government without any regard for caribou as stated by the Minister of Transportation in this House. Can the Minister of Lands tell us what kind of credibility our government can possibly have in any review of the...

Thanks to the Minister for that response, and I might have to follow up with a different Minister about the status of the Bathurst herd. Later today I'm going to be tabling the comment letter submitted by Department of Lands to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on the Grays Bay Port and Road Project. Several other letters were submitted by the NWT Indigenous governments and they have expressed very serious concerns/reservations about this Grays Bay Port and Road Project because it will cut through the remaining calving grounds of the Bathurst caribou herd. What is the position of our government...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I, too, would like to recognize my friend Wendy Bisaro, who served this House and also served as city councillor, and thank you for her years of public service. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I have some questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Can he tell us when these fabulous new airport improvement fees are actually going to come into effect? Is it going to be July 1st? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister again for that information. I am glad that he recognizes that overtime is stressful on our employees, and that the idea of relief workers is a good one. I will be tracking this during the rest of my term, certainly. As I mentioned earlier today, though, a great deal of the overtime is concentrated in Health and Social Services authorities, and Stanton hospital alone accounted for 18 per cent of the overtime costs. This may not come as a surprise to our healthcare and social workers, but I believe this is causing a lot of stress and burnout. What is our government doing to...

Merci, Monsieur le President. Earlier today, I offered some observations on statistics for employees as provided by the Minister of Human Resources, now the Minister of Finance. There appear to be about 100 vacant, undetermined departmental positions at any given time. Can the Minister explain whether this is comparable to other jurisdictions, and what efforts we are making to improve our recruitment efficiency? Merci, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. On February 14, 2017, I sent a Valentine's Day message to the Minister of Human Resources, in the form of a set of written questions regarding vacancy and overtime statistics. I recognize this was a complicated and lengthy set of questions, and that the department likely had to expend a fair amount of effort to pull together that information. I sincerely thank the Minister and his staff for pulling the information together.

Today, I offer some observations on that data tabled in this House on May 25th. The vacancies in our department for indeterminate positions...